Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-10-01

colossal ruins. ! had no time to observe
anything more at the moment. for we were
instantly surrounded by crowds of ANA
hagger. similar in every particular to those
with whom we already familiar. who,
though they spoke little, pressed round MS
so closely as to obscure the view To n per-
son living in n hammock. Then all Of a
sudden a number Of armed men, arranged
in companies and marshaled by officers
who held an ivory wand in their hands,
came running swiftly toward us, having,
SO far as I could make out, emerged from
the face of the precipice like ants from
their burrows. These men rs well as their
officers were all ROBBED III addition 20 the
usual leopard skin. and, as / gathered,
formed the body guard Of she herself.
Their leader advanced to Billali, saluted
him by placing his ivory wand transversely
across his forehead, and then asked some
question which / could not catch, and Bill
lali having answered him, the whole regi.
uent turned and marched along the side
of the cliff, our cayalcade Of litters fol-
lowing in their track. After going thus for
about half a mile, we halted once more in
front of the mouth of n tremendous cave,
measuring about fifty feet in height by
eighty wide, and here Billali descended
finally, and requested job II myself &c
do the same. Leo, Of course, was far toe
i'll to do anything Of the sort. Ibid SO, and
we entered the great cave, into which the
light Of the setting sun penetrated for
some distance, while beyond the reach OF
the light it was family illuminated with
lamps, which seemed to me TO stretch away
for an lmost undesirable distance, like
the gas-lights OF an empty London street.
Another thing that noticed was that the
walls were covered with sculptures in bas-
relief, of a sort, pictorially speaking, SINH
lar to those that j nave described upon the
vases, love scenes principally, then hunt
ing pictures, and pictures Of executions,
and the torture Of criminals by the plac-
ing of a pot, presumably red-hot, pot upon
the head, showing whence our hosts had
derived this pleasant practice. There were
very few battle-pieces, though many OF
duels, and men running and wrestling,
and from this fact | am led to believe that
this people was not much subject 70 attack
by exterior foes, either on account Of the
isolation Of their position, or because Of
their great strength. Between the pic
lures were columns Of stone characters of
n formation absolutely new to me; at any
rate. they were neither Greek, nor Egyp-
tian, nor Hebrew, nor Assyrian-that / can
swear TO. They looked more like Chinese
than anything else. Near to the entrance
Of the cave both pictures and writing were
worn away, but further in they were in
many cases absolutely fresh and perfect as
the day on which the sculptor had ceased
work upon them.
The regiment of guards did not come
further than the entrance to the cave,
where they formed up to let us pass
through. On entering the place itself w
were, however, met by n man robed in
white, who bowed humbly, but said moth
ing, which, as it afterward appeared, that
he was u deaf-mute, was not very wonder
full.
Running at right angles to the main
cave, at a distance Of some twenty feet
from the entrance, was n smaller cave or
wide gallery that was pierced into the rock
both TO the right and to the left of the main
cave. At the mouth Of this gallery 10 our
left stood two guards, and from this cir
cumstance / argued that IL was the en-
trance the TO apartments Of She herself.
The entrance to the right gallery was I'M
guarded, and down this the mute indicated
we were to proceed. A few yards down
this gallery, which was lighted with lamps,
we came to the entrance to chamber with
a curtain made Of some grass material, not
unlike "A Zanzibar mat in appearance, hung
over the doorway. This the mute drew
back with another profound o~beisance, and
led the way into a good-sized apartment,
hewn, of course, out of the solid rock, but,
TO my great delight, lighted by means Of a
shaft pierced in the face of the precipice.
In this room was u stone bed stead, pots
full of water for washing, and beautifully
tanned leopard-skins to serve rs blankets.
Here we left Leo, who was still sleeping
heavily, and with him stopped Ustane. j
noticed that the mute gave hera very sharp
look. as much as TO say, "Who are you,
and by whose orders do you come hereS'
Then be conducted us to another similar
room, which job took, and then TO two
more, that were respectively occupied by
Billali and myself.
I'm. ufaa orr Elaytv.